Stuttgart 21

For those who don't know, Stuttgart, the capital city of Baden-Württemberg is in the midst of its biggest political struggle in decades. The government wants to rebuild Stuttgart's main train station to modernize it and to help it become the new business center of Europe. Sounds great, right? Wrong. The original estimated cost of the project was 2.6 billion euros has no escalated to a estimated cost of 18.7 billion euros. Although some of the cost is being paid for by Deutsche Bahn and the EU, most of the cost has been put on the state of Baden-Württemberg, who is already struggling with finances. Money is not the only issue here, however. I think one of the main things pissing Stuttgarters off is the fact that the government went over their heads with this project. I'm not entirely sure whether there simply was no vote, or if the government simply ignored the results. Regardless- this project is wrong on many levels.
Stuttgart is also a city with relatively little natural beauty. After being torn apart in WWII, it was rebuilt to look modern, but somehow they forgot to put in parks. Yes, there is one major park- directly across from the train station. If/when they rebuild, most of the park will be ripped up and built upon, with no plans for replanting anywhere else.
The 21 issue isn't new (it actually dates back to the late 80s), but the demonstrations growing more and more violent, placing Stuttgart front and center in European news. My posse was just a few days away from missing (at the time) the biggest demonstration, where thousands showed up and even chained themselves to the station.

More recently, protesters are being injured by the police. One man, a 66 year-old Stuttgarter was hit full-force by a fire hose which knocked him unconcious and blinded him, possibly for life.

This issue affects me, in that nearly all trains heading anywhere (to Paris, to München, to Frankfurt etc) must pass through the Stuttgart train station. Our directors both here and in Oregon have warned us to stay away from Stuttgart. And! To top it all off, since Al Qaeda is threatening most of Western Europe, we can't travel to Berlin either.
[Note: I have no passport and I need to go to Berlin or Frankfurt.]

I have no way to conclude this post, because there is, as of yet, no ending to these stories. I'll try to keep you posted.